Category: Water
When the revolution in Rojava began, the groundwater level was very low due mainly to industrial monoculture agriculture organised by the Syrian regime over the last four decades, as well as a decline in rainfall as a result of the global climate crisis.
In 2015, Turkey started to use water as a weapon against Rojava by holding back the water on the rivers which flow from Turkey to Syria through the dams it has been building over the last twenty years.
Then, in October 2019, Turkish state forces invaded some areas of North-East Syria, including the region of Serekaniye, which supplies water to almost half a million people in the region around Hasakah. The Alouk water station in Serekaniye was targeted on the first day of the invasion. Since then it has been fixed and then put out of service again repeatedly.
Since the start of the invasion of Serekaniye, Turkish military forces and their allies have continued to attack water infrastructure, burned newly planted orchards and dammed the rivers providing most of the fresh water and electricity to Syria. Hundreds of thousands of people are currently without safe reliable drinking water, a situation only exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the articles below, you can find more information about issues surrounding water and the struggles for water autonomy in North and East Syria. There are also articles here with information on issues around water in southeastern Turkey, such as Turkish megaproject the Ilisu Dam, whose waters have now submerged the ancient city of Hasankeyf, drowning thousands of years of largely unexcavated human history and displacing an estimated 100,000 people, while giving Turkey unprecedented control over waters of the wider region.

Turkey’s Reduction Of Khabur River Water Threatens Fishery In Syria’s Northeast
Fishermen expressed on Sunday their concern over the increasing level of the pollution in the water of al-Basel Dam, south of Hasakah, northeast Syria, which led to the death of many fish.
Water Drop In Euphrates River By Turkey Portends Humanitarian Catastrophe In NE Syria
Hammoud Hamadin, an administrative official in the Tishreen Dam said on Saturday that Turkey’s reduction of the Euphrates River will lead the Tishreen Dam and drinking water pumping stations to stop working.
Women farmers in Deir ez-Zor affected by water shortage
Women farmers in Deir ez-Zor, who have been suffering from water shortage as Turkey has cut off the water flowing into the Euphrates River, call on the international community to put pressure on Turkey.
Turkey’s water war against North and East Syria continues
Turkey’s reduction of Euphrates water level continues to negatively affect North and East Syria. Engineer Hemud El-Hemadin warned that reducing the water level could lead to a humanitarian disaster.
Campaign to plant saplings from the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement
The Mesopotamian Ecology Movement launched a campaign to plant saplings throughout April against the destruction of nature.
Women of Deir ez-Zor grow cauliflower, cabbage
Agriculture is the main source of living for the people living in the villages of Deir ez-Zor, the largest city in eastern Syria. Most of the farmers in the region are women. This year, they grew different vegetables.
Supreme Economic Council to be founded in NE Syria
Co-chair of the Economy Board of North and East Syria, Salman Barudo, said yesterday they are about to [found] the Supreme Economic Council in Syria’s northeast. This aims to “set strategic plans and determine the future economic policy of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES),” he told North Press. This came
Women to realize wheat, tandoori projects this year
Kongra Star’s Women's Economy Committee continues to develop projects to empower women’s economy. Zehra Mihemed gave information about their works and told us that they will put their wheat and tandoori projects into effect in 2022.
Autonomous Administration of North-East Syria creating new fields of employment
Officials at the spring water processing facility in Tirbespiye maintain their work to meet North-East Syrian people’s need for clean water.
Drinking water project to be completed in Syria’s Hasakah countryside
The Hasakah Water Directorate of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) held a meeting with Shaddadi Civil Council, south of Hasakah, to discuss the project of rehabilitating Shaddadi water station in order to cover the residents’ water needs.
Turkey exploits Euphrates water to displace people
Women and farmers from Deir ez-Zor explained that withholding the Euphrates River is a policy that Turkey exploits to displace and starve the region's population and destabilize the region's security.